With the takeover of all shares of AT Compound S. A. (Via Cantonale, CH-6534 San Vittore) retroactive to 1 January 2000, Pongs & Zahn AG (Friedrichstr. 90, D-10117 Berlin) has acquired its first production facilities outside Germany and has taken another step towards positioning itself as one of the leading independent compounders in Europe. AT, which has capacities of 12,000 t/y and annual sales of EUR 10m, specialises in technical polypropylene compounds. The company acquired the Swiss and Italian compounding activities of the Dutch Wavin group in 1994.

As a holding for a number of medium-sized companies, Pongs & Zahn produces a wide variety of compounds, with the emphasis on PP, PA, PB-HD and TPE. To secure its competitive advantage, the company plans to expand its overall capacity to 100,000 t/y by the end of 2001. Additionally, it aims to have a plastics trading volume of 20,000 t/y. However, trading and distribution activities are not planned to account for more than 15% of total business volume in the medium term.

• Plasteurope.com Service: Annual report 1999 for Pongs & Zahn (German/English): PIE-No. 44662.– Company portrait brochure (German/English): PIE-No. 44663.